Newt Gingrich: Here’s my strategy for keeping a House Republican majority in November

On Wednesday, I was honored to speak at the Winter Meeting of the Republican National Committee about the how important and impactful the 2018 elections could be for America. Below is an excerpt of my remarks.

Let me thank all of you, particularly those I was just chatting with, for your generosity. I have been active in the Republican Party a fairly long time, longer than the younger people here have been alive. And I want to talk to you from the heart. When Ronna and I talked about coming by, I think it was precisely because I had enough distance to look at these things and to be involved on a number of occasions.

First of all, I thought last night’s State of the Union rivaled anything that Ronald Reagan did. It was just astonishingly effective. President Trump found specific individuals whose stories weren’t just important as wonderful human stories, but they each illustrated a part of the American tapestry in the American culture in a way that reminded all of us America is such a wonderful country. I thought it was a very powerful and very effective speech. Read more …

Colorado Housse Speaker Crisanta Duran listens to a briefing from economists, during a meeting of the Colorado Legislative Council on the state’s budget and economic outlook. (AP file photo/Brennan Linsley)

10. House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-Denver
The state’s first Latina speaker has a galaxy of political opportunities ahead of her, locally or nationally. She is term-limited in the House after this session. She hasn’t decided yet what she’ll do next,. Meanwhile, she must earn her reputation as a leader this session with a House caucus divided over sexual harassment allegations and how to spend a budget surplus.

Is Trump Making America Great Again? Or are Democrats and The Swamp stopping him? What exactly happened during 2017. Find out as we discuss what President Trump, the Republican House, and Republican Senate did or did not accomplish.

President Trump is on the hunt for a 2018 issue—a strong follow-up to his tax-cut victory that will motivate voters and gain bipartisan support. Democrats are pushing for an infrastructure bill, inviting the president to spend with them. House GOP leaders are mulling entitlement reform—a noble goal, if unlikely in a midterm cycle.

Fortunately for the president, there’s a better idea out there that’s already a Trump theme. It’s also a sure winner with the public, so Republicans ought to be able to pressure Democrats to join.

Let 2018 be the year of civil-service reform—a root-and-branch overhaul of the government itself. Call it Operation Drain the Swamp. Read more …

MICHELLE MALKIN: Oh, those battling Beltway buttinskis

There’s a word for people like Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who got caught recently cutting in line at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

The word is buttinski.

Beltway buttinskis can’t wait around like everybody else. Long lines are for little people. Beltway buttinskis are Very Important Persons with very important places to go. Such as political fund-raisers. That’s where Secretary Thompson was headed when he and his security detail elbowed their way past passengers who had been waiting to board for 40 minutes. After customers complained to the airline and to the media, HHS spokesman Tony Jewell told the Associated Press that Thompson “feels terrible.”

At least Thompson apologized. Kind of. And at least no one was physically hurt. Thompson acted badly. But when it comes to the Beltway sport of boorishness, Democrat buttinskis beat Republicans hands down in the medal count.

Bronze goes to Rep. Patrick Kennedy for his run-in at the Los Angeles International Airport two years ago. Rushing to catch a plane back to D.C. after attending a Hollywood fund-raiser, Kennedy attempted to ram his oversized luggage through an X-ray machine. When a female security guard tried to stop him, Kennedy flashed his congressional ID card as if it were an FBI badge. When Della Patton continued to block him from passing through the checkpoint, Rep. Kennedy shoved the 58-year-old woman backward. The entire episode was captured on videotape. Kennedy later explained that he had a Very Important speech to give the next day. Read more …

The great political surprise of 2018 will be the size of the Republican victory.

After members of the elite media have spent two years savaging President Trump, lying about Republican legislation, and reassuring themselves that Republican defeat was inevitable, the size of the GOP victory in 2018 will be an enormous shock.

Casselman contends that the Democratic victory in Alabama may have blocked a year-long embarrassment and actually strengthened Republican prospects in the Senate. He asserts there may be a new political wave coming, but no one knows whether it will be a red or blue wave.

As I listened to the end of the year “analysts,” I was struck by how little they know, how little they have questioned their own mistakes, and how mutually reinforcing their false information has been.

Adams, the author of Dilbert, has a list of 20 political opinions and predictions made about President Trump and his Administration, which were just plain wrong. He suggests if you were wrong about 15 or more of these assertions, you might quit talking about politics while Trump is in the White House. By Adams’s standard, most elite “analysts” would have to be quiet, because they have been so consistently wrong about Trump.

As I listened to the end of the year “analysts,” I was struck by how little they know, how little they have questioned their own mistakes, and how mutually reinforcing their false information has been.

These are not analysts. These are liberal propagandists. Much of what they assert is just plain wrong. Fake news is, sadly, an accurate term. And the topic about which they have been the most fake is the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

First, the media lied about the tax bill in an effort to convince most Americans their taxes would go up. Read more …

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